The San Francisco 49ers unloaded Ricardo Lockette this morning, as they attempt to figure something out with their backup QB position. For those looking for a reason Lockette got the axe, Cam Inman had this comment in his chat session earlier today:
Lockette just never could climb the depth chart among a pedestrian group that remains on the bubble. He has great size, speed and swagger (perhaps too much for a practice-squad vet). But from what I saw, he had trouble getting lined up at times in the right spot and fulfilling assignments, and those are things the 49ers can't afford.
The decision to release Lockette leaves the team with ten wide receivers heading into their preseason contest with the Minnesota Vikings. That's still quite a few mouths to feed, but it removes a guy who quite a few people thought had a realistic shot at a roster spot.
The 49ers recently released "depth chart" listed the 49ers receivers as follows:
WR: Anquan Boldin, Marlon Moore, Ricardo Lockette, Austin Collie, Lavelle Hawkins
WR: Kyle Williams, Chad Hall, Kassim Osgood, Quinton Patton, Chuck Jacobs
The 49ers depth chart release comes from the PR department with only a little bit of input from some of the coaches, so we take it with a grain of salt. We can remove Lockette, and we know that Jon Baldwin will slot in there somewhere.
As we head into the third preseason game, we can say with some semblance of certainty that the 49ers Week 1 wide receivers will include Anquan Boldin and Quinton Patton, and almost assuredly Kyle Williams and Marlon Moore. Williams has not played this preseason, and Moore has had limited snaps, but all indications are that they will make the team.
After that, we basically have a handful of players competing for one or two spots. My guess is that Jon Baldwin and Austin Collie end up as the final two receivers. Chad Hall has been getting snaps as the first string slot receiver, but I just can't see him making the roster. I'm sure I could end up being very wrong, but I'm just not seeing it right now. Chuck Jacobs has looked solid in two preseason games, but I think the 49ers will attempt to slip him through waivers to their practice squad.
With the departure of Lockette, if you had Lockette on your 53-man roster, how do you see the wide receiver corps shaking out now?